The Rooftop is an indoor-outdoor seating area that took the place of 3,500 seats in right field. (Photo by John Leyba/The Denver Post)

Taking a cue from the restaurants and bars that surround Coors Field, the Colorado Rockies have added an upper level right-field deck they hope will lure fans of good food and drink (if not baseball) to the ballpark.

With curtained cabanas, a rectangular firepit, sofas and coffee tables that feel more like a resort than a baseball stadium, the new Rooftop is open to anyone with a game ticket. General admission starts at $14 (some games will be higher) and the ticket includes a credit for $6 worth of food and/or drinks anywhere in the park.

The Rooftop is open two hours before game time, with batting practice drink specials: $3 12-ounce Coors and Coors Light, and 16-ounce craft beers for $6 in April and May.

Dale Katechis, who started Oskar Blues brewery and the new CHUBurger, has lots going on. (Douglas Brown)

Between his rapidly expanding Oskar Blues brewery empire, his Longmont farm, and his restaurants, including CHUBurger – an excellent burger joint he opened in Longmont this year – Dale Katechis is one busy guy. I hung-out with the madman mountain biker (he rides single-speed bikes only) on Tuesday at Homemade Liquids & Solids, his Longmont restaurant with 40 taps and a big menu, including smoked-and-fried chicken wings that may be the best wings I’ve ever scarfed-down.

Among other things, the guy was the first to put craft beer in cans. Here he is talking about why he skipped the bottles back in 2002, when he decided to package his suds rather than just pour them from taps.

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The details: On Wednesday, hit The Kitchen [Next Door] for a selection of 10 beers from five Colorado breweries, paired with The Kitchen classics like its kale chips, beet burger and roasted pork slider. The event runs all night. In addition, beer writer Christian DeBenedetti, author of “The Great American Ale Trail” and editor-in-chief of the e-newsletter Weekly Pint, will be on hand to chat beer and sign books. It costs $65. You’ll need reservations.

Have you been to the Kitchen in Boulder? If so, you're probably psyched for the opening of The Kitchen Denver.

Our friends over at The Denver Post’s beer blog, First Drafts, checked in this morning with some insight on The Kitchen Denver, the much- anticipated LoDo version of a popular Boulder restaurant — and one that’s less than a week out from its debut.